Curtains help make tasty clotted cream

BV Dairy, one of the country’s leading manufacturers of dairy products, has taken a major step forward to protect its manufacturing process and reduce its energy costs with a revolutionary air curtain from Airbloc.

The Airbloc air curtain, which will save the company “significant amounts of money”, is used to reduce heat loss from to doorway of the dairy’s huge walk in oven. It has been designed to keep hot air from escaping into the food processing plant where it is vital that food, predominantly milk based products, are kept chilled.

One of BV Dairy’s top sellers is clotted cream, produced by heating and cooling cream at specific temperatures under controlled conditions. The cream is cooked to produce an award winning product and needs a consistent temperature to produce the best results. The dairy found that the temperature of the oven varied due to door opening. .

“The decision to install an air curtain was taken to reduce the heat loss when product was both put into and removed from a walk in oven,” commented John Cooper, Engineering Manager at BV Dairy. “As well as keeping the processing room temperature down, it has also given the operator more confidence with the quality of the cooking procedure by keeping valuable heat in the oven to ensure it is cooked right first time. We have also seen some savings to steam energy and red oil usage!”

Airbloc’s air curtain – designed to produce a high velocity wall of air, which acts as a natural barrier – ensure that hotter atmospheres, like that of an oven room, do not penetrate into carefully temperature controlled climates. The high capacity ambient units are positioned over the outside of BV Dairy’s oven doors to prevent escape of hot air.

Airbloc’s energy efficient air curtains fully comply with advice from the European Food Safety Inspection Service and are wrapped in stainless steel, making them easy to wash down and wipe clean – essential for a food environment.

The air curtain is easily installed horizontally or vertically along a doorway. This is then controlled from a remote switchbox.

As well as maintaining the temperature in processing plants more efficiently than any other method available, Airbloc’s air curtains are proven to reduce energy costs by eliminating the need for chilling systems that work harder to regulate temperatures.